


Just Wanted to Hear Your Voice

by Miracles_happen



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Broken Engagement, Elain Archeron/Azriel Fluff, Engagement, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, First Meetings, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, I don't ship Elain and Graysen I swear, Late Night Conversations, POV Elain Archeron, Slow Burn, Slow Dancing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-19 14:21:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18136883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miracles_happen/pseuds/Miracles_happen
Summary: Azriel and Elain meet at a bar while their siblings are off being the stupid dumbasses they are. They start talking, and one thing leads to another, and...-----Basically a slow burn elriel fic with feysand and nessian sprinkled in





	Just Wanted to Hear Your Voice

_Why am I even here?_ Elain asked herself, sitting bored in the booth seat shared by her, Nesta and Feyre. Of course, she knew it was Feyre’s birthday, and she had decided to spend it with her sisters. Why they had to come _here_ of all places was a mystery. The bar was a dump at best. It was nicer than others in their city, which wasn’t saying a lot. The tables weren’t in the best shape, the seats were worn out in a bad way, and the dancefloor looked incredibly crowded with the music way too loud that it hurt Elain’s ears. At least the place wasn’t crumbling like the one they went to for Elain’s birthday. 

Still, Elain was miserable. Don’t get her wrong, she was ecstatic to celebrate her little sister’s birthday, but she could be doing better things than wait for Feyre to get drinks while Nesta ran off to get the cake, such as work on her biology presentation due on Monday. 

“I got it,” Nesta heaved, dropping the cake on the sticky table. It was chocolate, Feyre’s favorite, and they had only gotten the cake that morning, leaving it in the back of the car on the way to the bar. Elain hurriedly placed the candles, willing to do anything to distract herself from the boredom. They had the cake lit by the time Feyre had come back with the drinks.

“You guys didn’t have to do this,” Feyre said, grinning. She set down the drinks and sat down opposite her sisters. They sang happy birthday horribly and watched as Feyre blew out the candles, whispering a wish no one could hear over the blaring music. Then they cut the cake and ate it on plates the waiter gave them along with an odd glare.

“Did I hear there was a birthday?” A man with striking violet eyes and blue-black hair strolled up to their table, a cocky smile spreading across his lips. Elain stiffened, she was always wary around strangers flirting with her and felt Nesta move to protect her. 

“Who’s asking?” Feyre asked, leaning forward and pointing her fork at the man. She was always the bravest of the three. Also the dumbest.

“Rhysand,” the stranger replied, taking on the challenge and leaning across the table and cocking an eyebrow, “Rhysand Illyrian.”

“Feyre,” Feyre responded, taking another bite out of her cake, unwavering under Rhysand’s stare, “Feyre Archeron.”

“I take you to be the birthday girl,” Rhysand noted, nodding to her crappy plastic tiara placed on her braided hair that had become a tradition in the Archeron sistership to be worn on birthdays.

“What’s next? Are you going to take me to your bed next?” Feyre stared at Rhysand, and Elain noticed a blush creeping onto his cheeks as his grin was wiped off his face. She also heard sniggers coming from the next table, probably his brothers or something. Nesta gave them a withering glare, and the laughs were silenced.

“I was going to invite you to the dance floor, but if you want to skip ahead, that can be arranged, darling.” The grin was back, teasing this time. 

“Let’s see what you got, Rhysie,” Feyre said, scooting out of the booth, taking his hand and leading him into the crowd of sweaty people. 

Not a minute had past and another stranger had walked up, grinning. 

“Let me guess,” Nesta deadpanned, folding her arms, “you also heard there was a birthday.”

“It seems the birthday girl is taken,” the stranger grinned, “I’m Cassian. And you are…?” He stared at Nesta.

“Not flattered by your poor attempt at flirtation.” 

“I see,” Cassian grinned, “would you like to dance?” He asked Elain, extending a hand. Elain shrunk father back into the booth, if possible. 

“No, she would not,” Nesta snapped.

“And what about you, gorgeous? Would you like to dance?” Cassian asked, turning back to Nesta.

“ _Don’t_ call me that,” Nesta hissed. 

“I’ll consider it if you dance with me.” Cassian extended a hand. Nesta glanced at Elain.

“Go,” Elain whispered, smiling softly. Nesta nodded, and took Cassian’s hand, disappearing into the swarm of people. 

_Why am I here?_ Elain asked herself again, crossing her arms and angerly eating her cake. Now she was alone, at a bar, with no sharp-tongued sisters to protect or entertain her. Driving home to prepare the presentation seemed like a really good option. She twisted her iron engagement ring nervously, scared of who would come.

“Hey,” a voice came, gentler than the other two. It wasn’t laced with any of the flirtation of the other two, and the man to match seemed much less intimidating. Still, Elain wasn’t going to take chances. 

“What, do you want to dance as well?” Elain tried to rally as much of Nesta or Feyre’s courage as she could.

“No, unlike my brothers who are hopelessly single, I’m… taken,” the man said, still keeping his distance from Elain. She relaxed, seeing that he wasn’t trying to approach her like that. 

“What do you want, then?” Elain asked quietly. 

“Company,” the man responded. Elain cocked her head, “It’s awfully lonely without my brothers constantly bickering.” He gave her a soft smile, so unlike the other two.

And in an odd moment of bravery, Elain motioned for him to sit. The man took a seat, grateful to no longer be standing. “I’m Azriel,” he said.

“Elain,” Elain replied. After a moment of silence, Azriel spoke up again.

“So what made your sisters…?” he glanced at Elain, making sure he had the relationship between the three correct. Elain nodded and he continued, “what made your sisters dumb enough to agree to dance with my brothers?” Elain laughed.

“Feyre was challenging him, as she always does,” Elain explained, motioning with her fork, “she’s the toughest out of all of us. Plus, it’s her birthday. She deserves to have fun for a night. Nesta… Nesta is never one to run from a fight. She’s the fierce one. She finds it her purpose to protect me as well, since she’s older, and I think that’s why she agreed.”

“What about you?” Azriel asked. Elain lifted her eyebrows. “If I had asked, would you have said yes?” Elain felt a blush creep onto her cheeks, unsure of why.

“No,” Elain answered, “I’m… I’m engaged.” She looked down and twisted her iron ring, a nervous tick she had.

“Who’s the lucky guy?” Azriel asked.

“Why?” Elain asked defensively. This conversation seemed to be turning toward the kind of stalker-ish.

“Just conversation,” Azriel responded, eyes twinkling, “Why are you so defensive, anyway? Aren’t you getting married to this person?” Elain sighed. He had a point. It’s just she had always been touchy about her and Graysen’s relationship.

“He, um…” Elain swallowed, gathering herself, “he lives down south in the same town as my parents, it’s… um, it’s actually where my sisters and I grew up.” 

“Long-distance during engagement?” Azriel asked softly, and Elain could barely hear him over the music. 

“Yeah, um… boundaries are good. And, um… it’s-it’s nice in the north,” Elain murmured, “Graysen doesn’t really like the people up here anyway…” 

She didn’t notice how quiet she was speaking until Azriel asked, “What was that?”

“Nothing.” She gathered herself, and, no longer wanting to talk about Graysen, she asked him, “What did you mean when you said before about being taken?” She noticed as Azriel blushed (which happened to look very cute, despite Elain not being attracted to him at all) and he averted her gaze. “C’mon, I told you about my realtionship, it’s only fair you tell me about your’s.”

“Well, there’s this girl,” Azriel started. Elain shifted to better face him. He grinned loosely at her. “I’ve known her since I was a kid, and I’ve been in love with her since. I’ve been pining over her for years, and I mean _years._ Cassian even threatened to hook up with her a couple times I’ve been so hopeless. But yeah, she’s basically the only person I have eyes for, even after all these years.”

“Wow,” Elain said, amazed at how poetic he made his feelings sound, while she was just a stuttering mess. He really loved this girl. If only she could love Graysen like that.

“Well, yeah,” Azriel said, looking down and scratching the back of his neck, “She and Amren aren’t here tonight. Something about me, Cassian, and Rhysand getting to rambuncious.”

“Who’s Amren?” Elain asked.

“Well, Amren’s like the mom in our group…” And so the two talked about their lives, completely unaware that they were in a shitty bar, reveling in their newfound friendship.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so idk if this bothers anyone else, but some people seem to think that azriel loves sex and that shit, and like no?????? Azriel is the soft one??????? But yeah, that was kind of the basis of this thing. Also, I heard a story of a meet-cute and I thought it was perfect for the two of them so...
> 
> Please leave kudos and comments!!! <3


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